Alexandria, Va. – After three rocky weeks, prosecutors wound up on a strong note as they rested their case for executing al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. But the witness who could prove most valuable for them has yet to take the stand: the defendant himself.
For most of the trial, attorneys for the only man charged in this country for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, seemed to be making more points than the government. But former FBI agent Aaron Zebley and federal aviation security official Robert Cammaroto finally managed to get across the prosecutors’ main points late last week – even though a legal shadow lingers over their testimony.
Then the once-volatile Moussaoui, who stayed quiet through court sessions since the trial began March 6, reaffirmed that he still intends to do what he has been trying to do for three years: tell his story in his own words.
The 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent seized his customary moment, a recess. That is when Moussaoui usually mutters or shouts something like “God curse America” or “God bless al-Qaeda.”
At the recess after prosecutors rested, he yelled: “I will testify, Zerkin, whether you want it or not.” Gerald Zerkin is one of the lawyers appointed to defend Moussaoui.
Moussaoui has refused to cooperate with his defense team.
It is no secret that defense attorneys don’t want Moussaoui on the stand complicating their case.
“His behavior is so erratic, it’s hard to know what his testimony will mean for his case,” said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. “But he has a right to testify.”
Moussaoui’s consistent position for the past three years is not hard to understand, but it is fraught with legal peril.
He pleaded guilty in April to conspiring with al-Qaeda to fly planes into U.S. buildings. He has said consistently that he was not part of the Sept. 11 operation but was training to hijack a 747 jetliner and fly it into the White House if the U.S. refused to release a blind, radical Egyptian sheik imprisoned for life for other terrorist plots in New York.
On July 18, 2002, Moussaoui said: “I have no participation in Sept. 11, but … I have certain knowledge about Sept. 11, and I know exactly who done it. I know which group, who participated, when it was decided.”
Former federal prosecutor Lawrence Barcella said, “If Moussaoui says that on the stand, he may well rescue victory for the prosecution from the jaws of defeat.”
